


Sunshine

by chloeyo



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family, lowkey smut, single dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2018-11-03 23:16:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10977429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chloeyo/pseuds/chloeyo
Summary: Single father finally introduces his new girlfriend to his baby daughter. He's not like other guys their age and she likes what she sees.





	1. Chapter 1

“Good morning, sunshine.”

Skye let out a cry louder than the one that got him to get out of bed. He was still groggy from just waking up but seeing her there squirming, barely taking up any space in the middle of the seemingly giant crib-- that was enough to get his head where it needed to be.

He didn't pick her up, he didn't sing her favorite song and he didn't hold her hand. The only thing he did to calm her down was bend over the railing of the crib, smile at her with that charming grin of his, and waited for her to realize what he was doing. Soon enough her wales turned into whimpers and all that was left were a few residual tears and a pouty bottom lip. Once she caught a glimpse of his eyes she was locked.

“Hey there, sunshine.” he said reaching down and picking her up. With her in his arms he walked over to the window. Skye was constantly amused whenever she was able to observe all the plants, animals and people outside. She nuzzled her cheek in his chest while his arm supported the rest of her body. His other hand was busy feeling the smooth skin of her fingers whilst kissing the top of her head and talking in the scent of it.

They missed each other. Skye spent all of the day before at his mother's house for some requested time with grandma. She insisted he take a break for a day and act his age for the first time in what seemed like forever. Phil reunited with his daughter last night, only she was already worn out from probably not taking any of the naps he stressed to his mother that she needed. The more he stood there with her in his arms the more he was reminded of what he lived for.

When he first found out about this life he'd created, he accepted that despite the timing-- it was something he wanted. It hurt when the person he'd created her with didn't want any part in it. It was just a one night stand, sure. But part of him hoped that this was a sign that it was meant to be something more than that. He was wrong. She was gone but at this point, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Skye was the number one priority in his life from day one. He gave up the late nights with his buddies for afternoon trips to the coffee shop. He insisted that this was all he was looking for in life at that moment. But alike every other time Phil thinks one thing, life throws him for a loop.

He feels Skye settling more into his chest when two hands slide up his back.

“Good morning.” he says in a low tone so it doesn't startle Skye. He turns around to find her standing about a 9 inches below his eye level in one of his old t-shirts.

Phil never meant to fall in love this fast. He wasn't even looking for anything-- but ever since that one night stand however long ago, he's learned that his life is nothing but surprise after surprise. Lucky for him, so far all of the surprises happen to be more than pleasant.

Melinda learned about his situation after their first date two months ago. People their age didn't even think about having kids and she was no exception. He half expected her to leave after his explanation, but she didn't. She didn't know if it was his charming personality or the way he talked about his daughter, but something about him made her feel something new and different. He felt it too. And neither of them were going to be dumb enough to let that slip through their fingers.

When he looked down, he found Skye looking at Melinda with a confused look.

“Skye, honey you wanna meet someone?” he said in the same tone while lightly swaying back and forth. “That's Melinda.”

The two of them watched with smiles on their faces waiting for a reaction. There was none.

“She's still sleepy.” Phil added shifting her in his arms. “Here, hold her.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

Soon Skye was in Melinda's arms. Skye took a minute to observe who was holding her. She looked all over her face, even sticking her fingers in certain regions. Once she was done she looked back over at her dad, who gave her a smile to assure her that she was ok with this new person. Skye wiped her face with the back of her fist and set her head on Melinda's chest. Both of them raised an eyebrow at that. Phil’s was out of relief that she liked her, and Melinda's was out of complete shock.

Skye fell back asleep so she gently set her back in the crib. The two of them then got back into his bed themselves.

“I saw you over the baby monitor,” Melinda said as she laid in his big spoon. “You're a natural.”

“Definitely _not_ a natural. You shoulda seen me during the first month.”

“Still, she's beautiful.” she could feel his smile threw her hair. “But you didn't tell me you had a type.” That smile darted downward.

“I-- don't know what you're talking about.”

She turned around so that their faces were inches apart.

“Phil, tell me your daughter isn't half asian.”

“It's not a type, I swear. Just a… a coincidence. Plus-- she and I never really did anything but awkward doctor visits after that first and only night.”

His babble was adorable to her. Seeing him with a baby in his arms made it easy to forget that he was still a normal 25 year old guy-- only he really wasn't.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

She blushed and muffled her face in the pillow while he took in how cute it was.

“Seriously” he asked. “What is it?”

“You’re just different from other guys our age. They’re all egotistical and all they care about is how manly they appear to others.”

“Wow… jabbing at my masculinity?”

“No, definitely not. You’re masculine, but in a better way. Those other guys hide what they feel to make it seem like they’re tough. But there’s no mask with you. Skye is the most important part of your life and your not afraid to have other people know that.” For a moment they got lost in each other’s gaze-- something they found themselves doing quite often.

“I'm just trying to give her the life she deserves. It's the least I could do.” She continued to look deep into her eyes until her own started to squint. “What?” he asked curiously.

“You're hiding something.”

“Excuse me?”

“I haven’t learned a single thing about you that would make me the least bit hesitant on carrying on with this. If you were this perfect you would've been snatched up already.”

“I could say the same thing about you.”

“No, you can’t. You heard the story about my 5 weeks at medical school.”

“You left to do what you truly wanted despite what your parents wanted.” he ran his hand over and down her head until it sat at the base of her skull. “I find that wildly courageous.”

Smiling, her chin tilted up so her lips could reach his. Soon the lazy kisses grew deeper. He rolled on top of her and while his left arm supported some of his weight, his right explored her torso and the waistband of her underwear. She didn't start toying with his waistband for a little while later but his length was hard and out not long after.

“Wait. In the drawer there's a--” he was cut off by the starting scream of a deafening cry from next door. “Shit.” he said under his breath as he looked at the time.

She ran her hand down the side of his face. “Go.”

With that he pulled his briefs back up carefully and walked briskly to the next room. Melinda caught her breath and followed him not long after. The sight she saw when she got to the doorway was priceless.

He had Skye crying into his shoulder with his hand on the back of her neck as he bounced and swayed side to side to calm her down. The part that made it priceless for Melinda was the way he was doing it. He was still considerably hard (she could tell because of the way his pants were tented) and his bounces and sways were made very carefully.

“It's ok, Skye.” he said with a dry throat “Daddy’s… here. Shhh.” His eyes shut and he tilted his head up to the ceiling. He would swallow a moan after every one of his calming words.

Phil continued to bounce and talk to her until she calmed down. Once she did Melinda walked over and signaled him and they managed to make a peaceful transfer of Skye into her arms.

“Go ...take care of that.” she whispered. He gave both of them a kiss on the head and bolted out the door.

Melinda noticed right away that Skye needed a diaper change. She went through drawers looking for the diapers and wipes when she came across a section in the closet that was seemingly devoted to daddy-daughter captain america merchandise.

“Well, I guess I found out what he's hiding.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what was, but something about chapter one made me want to write more:)  
> feedback is appreciated and let me know what you want next:))))

That had been the perfect January Sunday afternoon. The three of them went to the park and Skye rode the swings for the first time. She was still too small for any of the other parts of the playground but she loved watching the big kids climb the jungle gym and go down the slide. Phil and Melinda couldn’t get enough of how cute and content she looked all bundled up. 

Once the park’s crowd cleared up and Skye was in one of her better moods, Phil took her out of her stroller and went down the slide with her in his arms. Melinda managed to capture her smile as the wind hit her face on camera perfectly. 

They got home and lost track of time watching movies and munching on the snacks they picked up at the grocery store. Melinda had planned on going home since she had work the next morning, but she quickly threw out that plan when Skye went down for the night and Phil opened a bottle of scotch. They controlled themselves and only had enough to satisfy their tastebuds. Neither of them wanted to be a hungover mess for work in the morning.

They fell asleep at an early 10:00 pm. They didn't realize how exhausted they were from doing almost nothing all day. 

At 2:00 in the morning Phil was awakened by the sound of whimpering through the baby monitor. It was soft--which was why it didn't wake up Melinda-- but in the last six months his senses had grown to accommodate for taking care of his greatest and most important responsibility in his life. 

He entered the room and turned on the light to a dim setting so it wouldn't shock her. What he would see next in the crib was different than what he'd ever seen before in these late night comfort sessions of theirs. 

Skye was drenched in sweat from head to toe. It was winter so she had on a onesie that was on the thicker side. Phil first thought was that the pajamas were too much, but when he picked her up he realized that it was her. Skye had a fever. 

She’d never been sick before. And as a fairly inexperienced parent, it scared Phil. 

He tossed her clothes in the hamper and ran some cold wash cloths over her body. He was amazed at how contained her cries were. Fevers were definitely not the most comfortable thing in the world and all he could do was fall more in love with the strong personality Skye was already showing. 

Melinda had woken up slightly when Phil left the bed. About two hours later she felt for him again and he wasn't there. 

“Is everything ok?” she said when she found them in the living room. 

They were both shirtless and he was laid down on the couch with her in his chest-- he'd made sure to pay attention and ask a lot of questions during doctor visits to know that skin to skin was the best way to warm up and comfort your baby. 

“She's sick.” he whispered. “Must've caught it at the park.”

She sat next to his feet and placed her hand on his leg. 

“Do you need anything?”

He tilted his head forward a bit to check on Skye. She was sleeping. 

“No, I think we’ll be ok. You have work tomorrow. Get some rest.”

“What about you?”

“She can't go to the daycare with a temperature. I'm gonna call work in the morning-- let them know I'm gonna be out.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, yeah. Should be fine. She's never been sick like this before. I just wanna take care of her.”

It was times like this-- when he said things like that-- that made her wonder how he was able to repeatedly make her fall in love with him. 

“Ok.” she said getting up from the couch. “Let me know if you need any help.”

Melinda bent over and gave him a kiss. That was the easiest way of letting him know that he wasn't alone. 

 

The morning had come a lot faster than Phil expected. He was woken by the sunlight shining through the blinds and he found Melinda walking through the halls half ready for work. 

Skye was weak and uncomfortable but she wasn't the type to want to make others feel sorry for her. She was still a baby and cried occasionally, but it was a lot less than what was expected. 

Once she fell asleep again Phil laid her down in her bassinet and dialed in his work number. 

“Phil. I hope you're ready for our big meeting today.”

_ Shit.  _

“The meeting, right.” he paused for a moment and may have mumbled a few swear words loud enough for his boss to hear. 

“Coulson, is there a problem?”

“No, Director. It's just-- my daughter. She's sick and--”

“Coulson you know I need you in this meeting.”

“I know, sir, but I just need this one day--”

“No. I'm sorry, I know I’m putting you in a difficult position but I need  _ you  _ with me on this. You're the best bet I have to make sure this meeting goes as planned. If it's not you then it's Garrett and I don't like my chances in that situation. Meeting’s in an hour. Don't be late.”

The line cut and Phil left frustrated as hell. He had no other choice to start packing a bag for Skye. He must have been loud because Melinda showed up at Skye's bedroom doorway not long after. 

What she found was a stressed out Phil running around the room throwing whatever he could into a Sesame Street backpack. 

“What's wrong?”

“Can’t miss work today. There’s a-- a meeting.”

“Fury?”

“Yeah.”

He continued to frantically move throughout the room. Melinda could tell he was looking for something.

“So what’s your plan?” she asked.

“Well, Fury said to be there in an hour so I figured I’d drop Skye off at my mom’s and make it there in time.”

“Barely. Your mom lives on the other side of town.”

“Well, I’ve gotta try right? Where the hell is that thermometer?”

She moved in closer to the room and got in the middle of his tracks. He was so focused that he basically ran into her. 

“Slow down, ok?” she said stroking down both of his arms. He took in a deep breath and slowed down just as she told him to. “You don’t have time for that, ok? I’ll stay here and watch Skye.”

“Melinda… no, I can’t ask you to do that. You were about to leave for work and--”

“Fury doesn’t have the same regard for me as he does for you.” Phil turned on his modest ‘that’s not true face’. “Don’t give me that look. Everyone knows how he hand picked you out of college and has been working on you ever since.”

Her bluntness was enough to get him to smile and actually calm down a bit. 

“You really don’t mind?”

“I really don’t.” Her hand moved up his arm and around the back of his neck to pull his lips to hers. “Now go get dressed, director’s pet.”

Melinda’s favor gave Phil and extra half hour to properly get ready. After he’d taken a shower and had a decent bite to eat he was ready to go. 

“Ok.” he said wiping off his mouth for crumbs. “I already called the doctor and he should call back within the next hour to run you through what needs to be done. And if you could run  _ me  _ through that when I get back that’d be great.”

“Got it, anything else?”

“Nope. I think you’re set. And if you’re not-- I trust you enough to know that you’ll figure it out.”

After those words he got stuck in a gaze at how she was there and how he actually had someone. He hadn’t told her yet, but she  _ was  _ half of the two loves of his life. 

“What?” she said before sipping her tea.

“Nothing.” he shrugged as he leant over to give her a kiss to boost his confidence for the meeting. Then he walked over to the bassinet Skye was in. She was awake watching the mobile while some fans kept her cool. His hand felt around her body in hopes that the fever magically disappeared-- it didn’t. But that was ok, she was in good hands. “Be good for Melinda, ok? I’ll be back as soon as I finish that stupid meeting” Skye responded by reaching for him. He knew if he picked her up he’d never leave. So he took her hand and kissed her fingertips. “I love you, sunshine.” 

Soon he was out the door and it was just them two. The very strong father daughter connection had an obvious effect on Skye when the door shut. 

“Aww, I know honey.” Melinda cooed as she slowly picked her up. “I know. Daddy’s coming back, I promise. You’re safe with me.”


	3. Chapter 3

They'd been working in the same organization two years before they finally crossed paths. Phil was working in field communications before Skye was born. But as soon as she was born, Fury moved him to run the base communications. Melinda was admitted into the agency a couple years after Phil and at a lower level. She was stuck manning the operations with little importance but she quickly worked her way up. 

During an ongoing operation, Melinda suffered wrist sprain. She tried to hide it but the commander found out quickly. She and her team had been working this case for weeks and she'd be damned if they finished it without her. The only way she was allowed to contribute was to oversee the op from base. And as fate would have it, the person they sent her to would be the same person she’d find herself looking forward to seeing for a very long time. 

She was a pissed off mess when they first met. It killed her that she was stuck inside and not outside with her team. Phil picked up on this quickly. There was a lot of downtime waiting for the field team to make contact again. They were both anxious for different reasons. She didn’t feel comfortable putting other agents in danger for her benefit, and he was just getting used to leaving his three month old daughter in the care of a paid babysitter. Phil thought he’d kill two birds with one stone and just talk to her. 

First it was casual, pointless conversation, but soon it became more than that. They weren’t waiting for word to come in anymore, in fact they wished they would  _ stop _ coming in so their talks wouldn’t be interrupted. Phil and Melinda did this for days. Her simple sprain suspiciously never healed. 

Phil caught himself slowly falling for her. Back on the first day they met he already sensed there was something about her. She was hard to read so it was only when they started talking that he was able to see the beautiful person she really was. It scared him, in a way. He felt selfish that he was having these feelings when he knew that his heart should only have room for Skye at that moment. Turns out his heart is bigger than he thought it was.

She didn’t even know about Skye until their first date. She had feelings for him but she thought he was seeing someone since he seemed to be holding back for a while. He was sweet and cute and it wouldn’t surprise her if he  _ was  _ taken. That’s why she felt such a great sense of relief when he called a day after the operation ended asking if she wanted to get a bite to eat after work.

This progressed quickly in their relationship but it was as smooth as possible. They never really got to work together unless they’re units were assigned to collaborate, so they had to squeeze in as much time together as possible. 

Four o’clock in the afternoon was usually the time Melinda would finish her day. On a good day he'd be in his office at that time and they could ‘blow off the steam of the work day’ together. 

“Sitwell.” Phil said into the phone as he sat behind his desk in the small office. “Tell that rookie-- what's his face-- Barton, that he needs to have the written briefing of the mission in Fury’s hands by Monday morning.”

He turned his head when he heard a knock at the door and found Melinda. She rounded the edge of his desk smiling and gave him a quick peck in the lips before settling into his lap. 

“I know he's difficult but you're gonna have to force him if you don’t want Fury blowing up at you again.”

Phil untangled the phone cord that was wrapped around him and Melinda and she started playing with his open ear to get him to speed things up a bit with the phone call. She could hear Sitwell arguing through the speaker. 

“Ok--” Phil interrupted. “Jasper I’m sorry but I really don't care. Just get it done.”

He hung up the phone and let out a giant sigh. 

“Jesus that guy dosen’t shut up.”

“Communications sucks. You should stop by the gym sometime. Let's see how you are with hand to hand combat.”

“Umm no. If I wanted you to whip my ass I’d rather you do it in the comfort of one of our beds-- and I'd let you do a lot more than that.”

She rolled her eyes and wiped that smug grin off his face by pulling it toward hers. They would have gotten a lot further than that if it wasn't for what happened next. 

“Well isn't that just precious.” 

Garrett stood at the doorway with a douchey smile on his face. Phil and Melinda couldn't tell if they were more upset about having to stop or about having to deal with Garrett. 

“What the hell, get lost.”

“What? I just came to drop off that file you've been nagging me about all week.” He plopped the folder in top of the desk. “So when am I gonna get to see my little goddaughter again?”

Melinda stayed on Phil's lap in hopes that Garrett would take the hint, but of course that was in vain. 

“One:” Phil said with an obvious annoyed tone in his voice. “she's not your goddaughter. And two: never. The last time she saw you you showed her pictures from the blown up toy store case. She cried for hours. How would you feel if someone showed you a picture of your favorite teddy bear only with the eyes bugging out and the stuffing spilling out of its neck?”

“I thought she'd think it was funny.” 

Phil let his head fall onto the back of his chair. It was 4:15 on a friday and his patience level was at a low. 

“May.”

“Garrett.”

They got locked in a mutual ‘I clearly don’t like you’ stare down. Garrett lost.

“Well I gotta go. It’s Friday so-- those drunk chicks at the bar aren’t gonna hit on themselves.”

He left with a douchebag smile on his face. They both simultaneously sighed in exhaustion. 

“I know I haven’t been beating up the new recruits all day… but I’m beat.”

She ran her hand over the side of his over dramatic face.

“Well you can nap on the way home. But as soon as we get there-- you will certainly  _ not  _ be getting any sleep.”

 

They walked up to his mother’s house hand in hand and Skye’s crying could be heard through the door. Phil stopped at the doorstep and looked over at Melinda.

“What?” she asked. “Need a second before you become ‘Daddy’ again?”

“Ok, first of all I love it when you call me that. And second of all, you’re about to meet my mom.”

She rolled her eyes-- something she did a lot around him, but in a good way. 

“Shut up and open the door, drama queen.”

So he did. He found his mom pacing the living room with Skye screaming into her shoulder. 

“Phil, there you are.” she was obviously tired as well. So tired that she immediately handed the stressed out baby over to her father. “There you go, Skye.”

“Hey sunshine!”

He held her up in the air while she was still crying and did that thing where he just smiled at her. She calmed quickly and he pulled her in closer. 

“Om om om” he mumbled into her cheeks. Phil pretty much entirely forgot about all the stress work brought earlier that day. Seeing her happy face just wiped everything away. He looked over and saw that Melinda was sitting right next to him. 

“I think your mom went to bed.” Melinda said. “What did you do to grandma, honey? 

Skye responded with a smiley gurgle and a fist in her mouth.


	4. Chapter 4

The first time Phil Coulson brought a girl home to his mother was a success, not that he was worried about it. He’d already told her all about Melinda and how he felt about her. From what she could tell nothing he said was a lie. Nothing he said was the slightest bit exaggerated, they were visibly perfect for eachother. Melinda wasn’t even trying hard to impress Julie, she was just being her natural self. The real clincher was that it was obvious Skye loved her as much as Phil did.

They would have stayed longer but if the little one fell asleep there, she’d wake up when they get home and wouldn’t go back down for hours.

“Thank you for the lovely dinner, Mrs. Coulson.”

“Oh, don’t mention it. And it’s Julie, dear.” she said before turning to Phil, or more like turning to Skye who was in Phil's arms. “Goodbye, my love.”

“Bye mom.” Phil mumbled with a sly grin on his face. 

“I was talking to my granddaughter.”

All three of them shared a laugh while Skye yawned. 

“We’ll see you next week.”

“Sounds good.”

Phil reached for the front door. 

“Oh, Phil-- go through the garage. I think I left some toys I bought at the mall on top of the car.”

They walked into the garage and Phil spotted the bag of toys on top of a station wagon that was next to a rather attractive looking red corvette. Melinda raised an eyebrow. 

“I didn't realize your mom was into cars.”

Phil grabbed the bag and the three of them proceeded into the driveway where his ordinary, kid friendly car was parked. 

“She's not.” he said as he put Skye into her car seat. “Lola’s mine.”

Melinda, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, turned around checking to see if he was being serious.

“What?” he asked defensively. “I had to get a new one that could hold a car seat.”

“No I got that.” she said still with a smile on her face. “But  _ Lola _ ? Are we not gonna talk about the fact that you named your car.” 

He rolled his eyes half in admiration for how cute she was being. 

“Is this that thing I was talking about? The reason you haven't been taken yet? Do have a car fetish?”

Neither of them could keep a straight face as he made his way to the driver's seat. 

“No car fetish, trust me.” he said pulling out into the street. “She was my dad’s. My mom gave me the keys when I was sixteen and me being the cool kid I thought I was thought she needed a name.”

“So you picked  _ Lola _ ? Out of all the names in the world.”

“Does she not look like a Lola to you?” it was her turn to roll her eyes. “Yeah I didn't put that much thought into it. Not like with the little one back there.”

“Skye?” Melinda clarified. “How'd you pick  _ that  _ name?”

They stopped at a red light and he watched his hands slowly slide down the steering wheel. 

“Is something wrong?”

“No.” he said looking up at her. “It's just… I've never really talked about this with anyone before. I guess I'm just realizing that.”

Her hand met his on the shift. 

“You can tell me-- if you want.”

They sat there in silence for a moment and the light turned green. 

“Skye was born a bit early.” he started as the car moved forward. “I wasn't allowed in the delivery room and the first time I laid eyes on her she was in a box with wires taking care of her. A few days after her mom got the all clear and she was out of there without a second thought-- so it was just me.” 

Melinda could hear the nervousness in his voice. 

“A name was the last thing on my mind at that point. I never really got a straight answer from the doctors about whether she was gonna be ok or not.”

“That sounds terrifying.” she said to fill in his pause. 

“It was.” he responded. “But I got through it. A week later she was given her own room and I was able to hold her. There were still wires and a breathing tube but she was getting better. That's when I was able to relax and think about a name.”

Melinda noticed that he sort of chuckled at the end there. 

“What?”

“Nothing it's just… this part is a little sappy.” Her eyebrows raised once more.

“Now you  _ have  _  to tell me. How'd you get the name, Phil?”

“I was holding her. It was the first time I was alone with her ever and all the feelings were overloading my brain. Eventually those subsided and I was seeing clearly. We were by the window and I noticed that she had her eyes wide open. When I would face away from the window she'd close them. So I stayed there. She just really loved the outside. She'd kick her feet if a dog barked or if a bird flew by. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen.” 

She caught him blushing. 

“I take it we’re getting to the sappy part?”

“Yeah.” he laughed. “I chose Skye as a reminder that she is what I have to live for. It's kinda hard to forget since no matter where you go, the sky is there.”

He was doing it again, he wasn’t trying to-- but nevertheless, he was. Melinda wasn't very good with words, but her feelings were reciprocated to Phil anyway-- it was just how they worked. They felt something in each other that they'd never felt with anyone else before. It wasn't a mistake. This was real. This was  _ love.  _ But something that big can be intimidating. The large amount of potential hurt it came with was beyond scary. They could easily give into that fear and forget it. Or-- they could take a leap of faith. 

The rest of the ride was a lot lighter and filled with smiles. They talked about work, and about each other. About Skye and her latest adorable milestone. All the while simultaneously thinking the exact same thing. All that was left was to say it. 

They rolled into the parking lot of his apartment complex settling into the slot next to Melinda’s car. Phil got out first and went to the trunk to get the diaper bag and Melinda took the deliriously sleepy child out of her car seat. Skye was on the verge of breaking out into a fit but she got there just in time. 

They met in between the two cars and to Phil's surprise, Melinda leant over to pass Skye to him. 

“Oh, you're going home?”

“Yeah” she said taking out her car keys. “There's a pile of laundry that is begging for my attention.”

Skye started to fuss again. 

“Are you sure? Because there's a certain someone that also wants your attention.”

“I'm sure daddy’s girl has all the attention she needs.”

“I was actually talking about me.” he smirked pulling her in nice and close. She tilted her chin up as if to give him the go ahead and he took that signal for all it was worth. They were in another world until a loud whine took them out of it. 

“I should get home.” she said sliding a hand over Skye's head. 

“Are we still on for tomorrow?”

“Defiantely. And remember I like my bacon extra crispy and my eggs--”

“overdone, I know. Still don't understand why you like that.”

They shared one last kiss and she got in the car. Phil stayed on the curb until her car wasn't visible anymore, and lingered a little longer than that. 

“You like Melinda, don't you, sunshine?” Phil said to Skye as he made his way back to their apartment. Skye responded by slightly lowering the volume of her whining. “That's what I thought. I get it. There's just something about her, can’t quite put my finger on it.” He made it to his doorstep and right as he was about to turn the last key, he said “Who am I kidding? ‘There's just something about her’. I love her.”

It felt nice to say out loud. It sounded right. He knew that for sure because right after that Skye stopped crying completely and fell asleep with her head resting on his chest with what he was pretty sure was a smile across her face.


	5. Chapter 5

Phil walked into the daycare center to find a group of babies, bottles and blankets in hand, gathered in front of a woman reading them a story. He wasn't surprised when he didn't find his daughter in that group. Instead he found her off to the side playing with the toy cashier set with the supervision of Miss McKenna. 

It wasn't that Skye didn't like interacting with other children, it was just hard for her to connect to most of them. 

He approached Skye and stopped a couple of feet away. She noticed him and the widest of smiles grew across her face along with an added twinkle in her eye. Phil squatted down to her level and Skye threw her hands down on the floor in an attempt to crawl. 

“Come on, Sunshine, you can do it.” he encouraged. 

She tried for a few seconds more but got frustrated and gave up. She was only seven months old so she still had time to learn. 

“She’s been trying all day.” Miss McKenna said after Phil scooped Skye up into his arms. “I think she's getting closer.”

“A part of me doesn't want her to learn. She'll be crawling and the next thing I know she's driving.”

“Well lucky for you, I think there's a few more milestones in between.”

They laughed for a little while but then Skye waved her arms, hitting his shoulders for attention. He gave it to her, placing multiple a kiss around her face-- something he’d been thinking about doing all day. 

“How was your day?”

Skye didn't respond, she instead tugged on the loosened tie that sat around Phil’s neck. 

“She had a good day. Well, best in a while at least.”

“What do you mean?”

“There was another little girl here last week that Skye really liked playing with, but she moved as soon as the two took a liking to one another.”

Phil’s heart broke a little. 

“Didn't that happen before?”

“Yeah, with Jessica.” Miss McKenna noticed the slight concerned look on his face. “It's nothing to worry about. She just has a bit of bad luck. But I have a feeling she’s getting comfortable with little Matt over there. And he's not moving, trust me. His dad's somewhat of a local hero.”

Phil did get a sense of relief from hearing that, sometimes he worried. He said goodbye to Miss McKenna and after a long day he finally took his daughter home. 

Once they got there, Skye wasn't having it. Everything was making her upset and nothing seemed to make her feel better. After a couple of hours, Phil strategy was to simply wait until she got tired and ran out of energy to cry anymore. 

It worked. At about 10:30 pm Skye mellowed out and was able to relax next to Phil on his bed. She was definitely tired and would most likely be out until morning. All she needed was a little help getting to sleep. 

“Ok, sunshine.” he said in a soft voice. “How about we check out some of those books grandma bought you?”

The stack was sitting on the nightstand and he had yet to go through them. 

He skimmed over a few before he got to one that really caught his attention. 

_ Mommies and Daddies for Everyone.  _

The book was about how everyone, even animals, had two parents that loved them very much. Phil knew his mom probably wasn't paying attention when she bought this, but he was still annoyed. Not at her, but at whoever was naive enough to think that writing a book like this was a good idea. He knew for a fact that he wasn't the only single parent out there. Every word in that book was a lie. Did they really think a male frog would stick around to watch his tadpoles to become frogs themselves? 

His mind wandered a little-- more like a lot. And by the time he remembered what he was doing in the first place, Skye was already knocked out. She didn't even wake up in the slightest when he moved her to the crib. 

He was tired before but that book got his brain up and running. Sleep wasn't going to come easy, not when he needed to get something off his chest. 

“Hey, did I wake you?”

“No” she sighed into the phone. “I just got home.”

They hadn’t seen each other in a week due to her off base assignment. 

“Mission complete?”

“Yeah. It's about time.” He could hear her getting settled into bed. “I miss you.”

A smile ran over his face. 

“I miss you too.”

It was good to hear. They each took a second to take it in. 

“Shouldn't you be asleep?” she asked with a playful tone even though she was actually concerned. 

“Yeah but-- I don't know. I've just been thinking.”

“Uh oh.  _ You're  _ thinking? What’s wrong.”

He didn't respond at first. It seemed silly. 

“Nothing. Well, not  _ nothing.  _ It's  _ something _ , but it's stupid.”

“Phil.” 

All she said was his name but he was able to fully understand what she meant.

“I think hurt Skye.” he realized how off that sounded when he heard it out loud. “Not  _ hurt. _ Like physically, but like-- in the long run.”

“What do you mean?”

“She's got this amazing personality. She was born with it. But I saw her today with all the other kids, and she was isolating herself. I think she knows she's different then them.”

“Different how?”

“Well first of all, all those kids have normal parents. Her’s is a SHIELD agent. And second, those kids have had two parents since the day they were born.”

“You really think Skye knows that?”

“Well not like  _ that.  _ But-- she's smart. What if she can sense that she was missing something? I know I sound crazy. But I feel like in the last 7 months, I’ve been depriving her. Like I haven't been giving her enough.”

“You think that because there's only one of you, that Skye hasn't been getting the amount of love and attention that a kid deserves. And somehow that’s had an effect on how she interacts with other people?” They weren't face to face but she knew he was nodding. “Phil, I'm sorry but that's bullshit. The way you are with her. You always put her first and she knows that. Even when you're not around her-- when she's at your mom’s or at the daycare-- she knows that you're out there doing everything you are,  _ for her. _ I see it, your mom see’s it, Fury see’s it and I’m pretty sure even Garrett see’s it. You've done nothing to hurt her, Phil. This isolation thing she does is natural for her. She's not easy to let anyone in and that's ok.”

Phil knew she was right. There was such a sureness in her voice that made it really hard to think otherwise. 

“She let  _ you  _ in.” he finally said. “Faster than she's ever let anyone in.”

Phil knew it was because Skye knew who Melinda would be to her-- she'd be the woman her father loved. _ Loved.  _ He would have told her that right then and there but he stopped himself. Telling her over the phone wasn't the way to do it. 

“You have that effect on people.”

“Not people. Just you two.”

“Good enough for me.” They let the sound of each other’s soft laughs sink in and then die out. Both of them felt their smile grow until it hit the speaker of the phone. “I really miss you.”

The scrunching of his pillows and the lazy tone in his voice told her that he was getting comfortable.

“Turning in already?”

“You aren’t?”

“No rush.” she said to his surprise. “Fury gave me the next four days personal time for a ‘job well done’.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just that he coincidentally told me to ‘leave my ass at home until Monday’. Something about me being too distracted while a certain someone was away.”

“So we’re both off.” she concluded. 

“Looks that way.” he agreed. “Is your bed feeling bigger than usual?”

“Phil, stop. You're really bad at this. Just ask me to come over.”

“Will you come over?”

“I'm already in the car.”


	6. Chapter 6

Five minutes after she walked through his front door they, were knocked out on his bed. There was complete peace and quiet until sunshine rose in the morning-- and she was happier than ever. 

Phil woke up first with Melinda following not long after. It was nice to wake up together on a workday and not have to worry about actually going to work. The only thing they were responsible for that day was the little girl in the next room who was sitting content in her crib talking to her stuffed animals. They would be having lazy conversations and all of a sudden Skye would let out the cutest little noise. After a while enough was enough and they had to see the adorableness that was taking place. 

The door to her room was already open, so they just had to peek in without getting her attention. The toy Skye was playing with had a paw that played nighttime music when you squeezed it. It was only a ten second song but when it finished it would say ‘All done, good night!’. That was her favorite part and every time she heard it she'd let out the softest ‘oh’ followed by a couple seconds of giggling before going to squeeze the paw again. 

It wasn't getting old. The look on her face was pure joy and it was impossible to get enough of it. 

Skye eventually heard the familiar low voice coming from the hallway, causing her to forget what she was doing. 

“Uh oh. I think we’ve been made.”

Phil and Melinda emerged from the sides of the doorframe and Skye's eyes widened to double their size.

“Someone had a good sleep, didn't you Sunshine?”

She wasn't used to seeing Melinda first thing in the morning, but she knew that when she did, it was going to be a fun day. 

Unfortunately for Skye, today was going to be different. It was Thursday, meaning there was still daycare to attend. She didn’t know this, of course. But it wasn’t her fault. Her entire weekday morning routine was ignored. Usually her father would walk in already showered and dressed in his suit pants and undershirt-- he saved the tie for after he change the diaper. But today he was still in his pajamas and Melinda was with him. Phil proceeded to get her ready for the day, but Melinda had to turn down his choice of an outfit combination. 

“What? You don't think that's cute?”

“Phil, a orange chevron bottom with a hot pink polka dot top.” He still thought it was fine after she pointed it out. “Maybe we should just leave daddy to the diaper changing.” she said to Skye who smiled in response. 

They then had breakfast and proceeded to the car to drop her off. Skye probably assumed they were going to the park, but her suspicions grew once she realized the car ride was going on a little longer than it should have. It was when they rolled over some train tracks that she realized where they were going. 

Her crankiness level shot up almost immediately. By the time they drove into the parking lot Skye was pissed. She thought she was going to spend the day having fun with the two people she enjoyed the most, but instead she’ll be spending it having slightly less fun with people she  _ did  _ enjoy, just not quite as much. 

Phil didn't  _ want  _ to drop her off, but he knew if he did he would start to do it all the time and that wouldn't be good for either of them. 

“That was fast.” Melinda said as Phil returned to the driver’s seat. “I expected it to be a good ten minutes considering how pissed off she was.”

“I've learned that it's best when I leave as soon as possible when she doesn't want me to leave.”

“Best for the baby or best for you?” she asked with a smirk. He blushed and put the key in the ignition. “So what do you have planned for today, Agent?”

He pulled onto the street and gave her a smirk of his own. 

“Something special.”

 

His attempt at making their destination a surprise failed. She knew exactly where they were going five minutes after leaving the daycare center. She didn't say anything, of course. She could see straight through that look on his face and see that he was excited, but at the same time nervous. 

“Phil?”

“Yes, dear?” he said while giving her her favorite googly eyes and smile combination. 

“You wanna tell me why we’re at your mom’s house?”

He didn't answer immediately. Instead he got out of the car and waited for her at the end of the drive way. 

“Relax.” he assured her while she approached him skeptically. “My mom at her friend’s for the day.”

He reached down for her hand and started leading her to the top of the driveway. 

“She's not why we came here anyway.”

With that Phil pressed the button to open the garage door to reveal a freshly waxed red Corvette. Melinda looked over at him, and with that same look on his face, he took the keys out of his pocket and walked over to open the passenger side door for her. 

“I'm sure you do this with all the girls.”

“If by ‘girls’ you mean my 2 week girlfriend back in high school-- then yes. Though, I seem to remember scaring her off when I wouldn't let her eat her breakfast in the passenger seat.”

“Wow, I feel so special.”

“Trust me, I'd let you eat anything you want in Lola.”

“Actually I was hoping you'd let me do something else in Lola.”

Melinda chose to turn on a few seductive facial expressions herself. Her fingers twiddled up and down his chest while she flirtatiously gazed up into his eyes.

“Oh god,” he said when he realized what she was doing. “What do you want?”

“The keys.” 

He didn't know how to respond. The only people who'd ever asked to drive his car before were his drunk friends who wanted to take it for doughnuts in the back lot. He had no problem saying no to them--but Melinda, however. 

She could see he was conflicted on how to proceed in the conversation. 

“Come on, I’ll be careful.” 

He attempted to speak but his mouth was dry from it being open for too long. 

“You’ve seen me land a quinjet on a roof the size of the front lawn. I’m sure I can drive this to… Where did you plan on taking me?”

He swallowed before saying, “General Wong’s. I thought you could use some take out after that op.”

“Well you thought right.” Her slight laugh accompanied by her ‘only around him’ smile send flutters throughout his body. “Please?” she tried one last time. 

“Fine.” he gave in, earning a little celebration kiss from Melinda. “On one condition.”

“Condition?”

“You can't tell  _ anyone. _ ”

Melinda liked seeing this serious side of him, especially when it came out during situations that only he found pressing. It was cute. 

“Seriously.” he continued when her smile got even bigger. “If Garrett found out I let you do this he'd never let me hear the end of it.”

“Well, I’m not Garrett.”

“No, you're not. You're the woman I love and if I think about it this car doesn't mean anything to me if I'm comparing it to you.”

Phil stood there in complete shock after hearing the words that came out of his mouth-- because that's exactly what happened, they came out of his mouth. They didn't bother to check with the brain before hand, they went straight from his heart and into her ears. But after a few seconds of processing, he came to terms with it. 

“I love you.” he said consciously. The grin on her face told him it was ok to lean down to her lips. His hand that held the keys went for the back of her head and got slightly tangled in her long locks. 

“Nice to see we’re on the same page.” she whispered once he gave her an inch to breathe. 

Phil was glad she wasn't making a big deal out of it. That wasn't who she was, that wasn't how they were. They'd known this to be true from the moment they met, saying it out loud was just a sort of bonus. And that's why the moment lasted as long as it did. 

Unbeknownst to Phil, Melinda had already acquired the keys from his hand sometime during that exchange. 

“Now let's see how she runs, shall we?”

He sat back and watched as she cruised through the streets with a look of pure joy and satisfaction. He knew for a fact that those looks were from getting him to give up the keys, not from how unbelievably smooth his car rode. That was ok. That's just who she was. His mind trailed off into what their future would look like. Him, her, Skye, maybe a couple other kids-- who knows? 

Then his mind went back to Skye. She'd be so happy that finally, after months and months of him talking to her about his feelings for Melinda, he'd finally came out and said it. 


	7. Chapter 7

Cooking was a rarity when it came to the Coulson house. Between the hours he worked and the baby that he couldn't say no to, there was just no time. It was a shame considering how much he got a kick out of mastering a recipe. For the past year his at home diet consisted of TV dinners and takeout from every nearby restaurant. 

When Melinda heard about this she didn't hesitate to offer some help. She and Skye hung out in her living room while Phil worked around the barely touched kitchen-- Melinda wasn't exactly on who got along with a cookbook. 

Dinner was a lovely chicken parmesan pasta along with a couple of beers. It was simple, but it was enough to scratch his cooking itch. 

The two of them sat face to face at the dining table while Skye and her high chair setup sat to the side. 

“I don't know if I can eat this, Phil.”

He stopped shifting things around the table and looked up at her with a slightly open mouth. 

“It looks too pretty.” she said to his relief. “It'd be a shame to mess it up.”

Smiling, he reached into a grocery bag on the floor and took out a jar of mashed peas to set on the plastic table built into Skye's high chair. 

“Well, thank you but I think it'd also be a shame if it went cold so--” he picked up his fork and gestured it to her to cue their first bites. 

He watched intently as she tasted it for the first time, but on the inside he was anxiously waiting for her to say something or make a facial expression to let him know what she thinks. He also straightened up a bit and swallowed when she started indicating that she was ready to say something. 

“Phil.”

“Yes?”

“This is amazing. And I'm not just saying that because I think it's insanely cute when you blush” which he was. 

“Well, thank you” he said going in for some himself. 

“You're doing this all the time if  _ this  _ is what a home cooked meal should taste like.”

He had his mouth open ready to receive his first bite but he paused when he realized what she just said. 

“What?” she asked defensively. 

“You haven't had a home cooked meal before?” he asked with pity in his voice. 

She let out a quiet  _ pfft  _ and proceeded eating while he gaped at her. 

“It's not as bad as it sounds.”

He scoffed himself. 

“If you've  _ never  _ had one before, then I'd highly doubt that.”

“I didn't say  _ never _ . My mom tried but she wasn't really a cooker.”

“Like mother like daughter.”

“Say that again and I’ll wipe that smirk right off your face.” she threatened with a forced smile. 

“Copy that.” 

They laughed it off and Phil started gather some of the plate’s contents onto his fork when a plastic sippy cup flew right across his face. He looked over at Skye who was happily banging on the table while her teething gums chewed on her drool soaked bottom lip. 

“Oh. Sorry, Sunshine. You want dinner too, huh?”

He tapped her nose and walked over to the counter where the bag of groceries sat. Melinda insisted he take an hour to himself and get groceries for dinner. Even Phil would admit that he came back with way more than what was needed, but nevertheless it  _ did  _ give him a chance to use the irresponsible muscles he had to put aside when he became a father.

The three full bags he came back with where filled with ingredients, baby food, a couple of toys that could also be called action figures, and a bouquet of flowers that he bought because he thought it would make Melinda smile-- which it did. 

He came back to the table with a jar of mashed peas. It was the first flavor of solid food that he fed her and it’s been her favorite ever since. 

“Alright, cutie. Here comes the quinjet.”

Phil waved the colorful spoon around in circles to get Skye’s attention, and as soon as her eyes locked on he went into feed her. Skye let the spoon come a tenth of an inch close to her open mouth before shutting it, causing the spoonful of peas to crash and splatter all over her face. 

The first time it happened, the three of them found it funny. By the tenth time, however, no one was laughing.

“Come one, Skye. Peas! You love peas, right?”

Though he tried to suppress it, Phil’s frustration transferred over to the now cranky baby. She swayed her head left and right every time she heard him say the word’s ‘eat’ or ‘peas’. 

“Phil, let me try.” Melinda offered after noticing he hadn’t had a bite yet. 

“No, it’s ok. She’ll eat, it’s just…” 

He was interrupted by the beginning of what looked to become a tantrum. Tears came streaming down and arms flailed all over the place. 

Phil sighed in defeat and handed the jar across the table. 

“Hi, baby.” Melinda said cheerfully as she turned the high chair to face her. Skye continued to display her frustration so Melinda ran her hand down the side of her face and gave her time to forget what she was crying about. 

“Do you want your dinner now?” she asked without expecting a response. 

The rejection of the spoonful didn’t come as a surprise, though it still hurt when that small amount of hope that she would take was crushed. Phil shoved another bit of food into his mouth and gave her an ‘I told you so’ smile. 

“Maybe she doesn’t like it.”

“No.” Phil mumbled with his mouth full. “It’s her favorite, always has been.”

“Well, things change.” 

Melinda got up and walked over to the bag on the counter. After searching through it, she walked back with another jar. 

“What is that?”

“Cauliflower puree.” she read.

Phil grew confused in his chair. 

“Umm that’s a mistake. I would never buy that-- I hate cauliflower.”

Ignoring that comment, Melinda cracked open the jar and managed to successfully insert and empty the contents of the spoon into Skye’s little mouth. She swallowed and opened her mouth for more, giving Melinda the green light to shoot a victory smirk.

On the outside Phil rolled his eyes. But on the inside he couldn’t get enough of the sight of Melinda with Skye.

He didn’t know what he was feeling. It was strange and unfamiliar, but it was warm and hit him in places he didn’t know possible. It was nice, pleasent and felt like it should have been there all along. It was the feeling of love a father has when he watches the woman he loves with his child. 

When he accepted that he would be raising Skye alone he accepted that moments like these weren’t for them. But now those moments were happening and it was surprisingly easy to grasp. 

  
Maybe  _ too _ easy? No. This was right.


	8. Chapter 8

It was a long day of training for Melinda. The commanders were doing evaluations on the lower level agents to see who they wanted for their next mission. All of the agents were doing their best to make themselves look good, including Melinda. But the truth was that she didn’t have to, her reputation spoke for itself. Word spreads quickly once a senior agent sees a tiny little asian girl take out three giant assassins with her bare hands. 

By the end of the day she had her choosing of four different missions under commanders that all found her impressive. 

She wasn’t even one to gloat but she still earned the catty jealousness of some of her colleagues. They’d all talk about their plans for after hours right in front of her without offering for her to come. Melinda being Melinda acted like she didn’t care about it--which for the most part she didn’t-- but there was  a small part of her that knew she was missing out on what normal early agents do. 

“All alone?” an all too familiar voice asked from the corner. 

Melinda rolled her eyes and rung a towel over the back of her neck. 

“What are you doing here, Garrett? Shouldn't you be over in the weapons department irritating everyone over  _ there _ ?”

“Did that already. They kicked me out.”

Banter with Garrett could be so dangerous, you never know when you're going to want to run up and give him a good kick in the balls. But she suppressed that desire and covered it with a obviously forced smile. 

“If that's all you came here to say then you should probably leave. Garcia is set to come in here next. I bet he's still not happy about that comment you made to him about his girlfriend.”

Garrett looked behind him as if he were scared to amuse Melinda. 

“Oh, well I better make this quick then. I actually came with a message, May.” 

“Then stop spouting nonsense and say it.” she said as she opened her locker. 

“Phil needs you to pick up his girl from daycare today.”

Melinda turned around confused. 

“Why did he send  _ you _ ?”

Phil had only asked her to do this once before, but when he did he didn't send someone else to do it. 

“No idea. We were in his office when he got a call. Seemed pretty serious.”

“Was it a mission?”

“He didn't say.” Garrett saw Melinda going through all the possibilities in her head. “Don't think of the worst. He probably had another one of those urgent meetings with Fury.”

He was right. Thinking of the worst wasn’t a good idea, especially if it was nothing.

She dismissed Garrett and went to go pick up Skye-- which she was more than happy to do. 

Right when she saw that happy little smile, any thought of jealousy of the other agents suddenly dissipated. If anything they should be jealous of her because while they’re out hitting bars and doing things they’re gonna regret when they’re older, she’s already where they secretly want to be-- in love; and there was the added bonus that he came with a baby that she was also in love with. 

Melinda figured she’d bring Skye back to his place and wait for him there. Skye seemed as relieved to be home as she was.

“Did you have a long day too, Sunshine?” 

Phil talked about what all of Skye’s babysitter’s told him. He said that she had been having trouble getting along, or rather fitting in, with the other kids. You wouldn’t know it looking at her, though. She’s a really happy baby for the most part and doesn’t complain as often as a baby should. Skye found comfort in being with the people she loves. At the time the list of people only consisted of Phil, Melinda and Grandma-- but that was all she needed. 

On multiple occasions Phil also voiced to her his concerns about why she is like this. Skye doesn’t let people in easily. He thinks it’s because of how many people have left her. Skye’s mother left her in the very beginning. Of course she couldn’t know that, but there was still a part of her that had to notice a difference once she was gone. After that it was all the kids she got along with that have come and gone. 

He thinks that’s why she doesn’t even try with anyone else, she doesn’t want to risk being hurt when they leave. Melinda told him that that was nonsense but she can see how he would come to that conclusion. Some people just aren’t comfortable with stability. But to her, with the circumstances Skye is living in, maybe it wasn’t the worst trait to have. 

But that meant that as one of the only people on the planet this little girl loves, it’s her job to give all that love and more back to her. It wasn’t going to be hard, though. Just the sight of one of her little shoes gave Melinda the same warm feeling that she got when she saw Phil’s card collection. 

“Where’s Skye?” Melinda said while holding a blanket in front of her face and then dropping it. “There she is!”

Skye responded with a roar of giggles and clapping hands that signaled that she wanted more. That must have been the thousandth time and still it wasn’t getting old-- for Skye at least. Melinda looked at the clock and was surprised to see what time it was. The two of them had eaten dinner three hours ago and Phil still wasn’t back yet. He hasn’t left a single message as to why. She hadn’t heard from him since earlier that day when he called to say good morning. 

_ We’re SHIELD,  _ she thought to herself,  _ This happens. He’s alright.  _

Those words were on repeat in her head for hours. She kept calm until she felt it was time it was appropriate to start worrying on the outside. 

Skye was having trouble falling asleep in her room, the girl had a sense for these things. She lay asleep on the couch next to Melinda who was wide awake for either the phone to ring or the front door to open. 

She started to doze off at around three in the morning. It was five minutes after that when she awoke to a dark figure standing at the doorway. 

It was Phil. He was facing the coat hanger and his hand rested on the spot on the shelf where he dropped his keys. 

Melinda made sure Skye was secure on the couch before getting up to approach him. Her hand went to his shoulder and felt that he was unusually still.

“Phil… I was getting worried.”    
He didn’t respond. He just stood there even longer, breathing. 

“Phil.” she said tugging at him slightly. He turned about a whole forty-five degrees, forcing Melinda to walk over a bit to get a better look at his face.  What she found was the unfamiliar sight of Phil’s eyes red and damp. She brought her hand up to his face and he slowly turned to look her in the eye. 

“My… My mom died.”

 

He had been in a meeting with Garrett and his team when the phone rang. It was Madison, his mother’s best friend. He only picked up to tell her that it wasn’t a good time, but her frantic tone caught his attention. After a few moments of him telling her to calm down, she broke the news to him that his mother had suffered a heart attack. She was in the hospital being held on life support. 

Being at work meant that he had to keep a calm exterior, especially when he was in a room filled with a bunch of his subordinates. He managed to get out the jist of what the meeting was about and then dismissed everyone within two minutes of getting the call. 

His mind was racing. All he wanted to do was be with his mom when she needed him the most. In order for him to do that, he’d have to first take care of a few of his responsibilities. 

Phil caught Garrett on his way out and asked him to give Melinda the message to pick up Skye. 

After that he got to the hospital as fast as he could. He pulled into the parking lot and ran to the reception desk to ask where she was being held. He rushed to the room. But as soon as he caught a glimpse of her through the window, he couldn’t breathe. She was unconscious and hooked up to a giant machine with tubes all around, breathing for her. 

When he finally walked in, he took her hand and begged her to wake up. He told her over and over that he was there, that Skye was there, her family is there and they need her. 

The doctors took her off the life support once he arrived. They said she wanted it that way when she designed her will. 

He sat there for hours but there was no change. 

SHIELD agents have access to the world’s most advanced technology. They can be used for hacking into enemy systems or locating a deadly bomb.  _ Or  _ they could be used for keeping a video of your daughter in your pocket. 

He pressed play and the sound of Skye’s laughter filled throughout the entire room. She was safe with Melinda at that moment.

Phil didn’t believe in God. Belief in that sort of thing wasn’t taught to him growing up. His mother labeled them as Catholics, but only because it was convenient. Joining SHIELD only lessened any chance that one day he’d believe in any sort of higher power. But today he prayed. He prayed to anyone listening that his mother stayed with him for a little bit longer. That everyone he loves could just stay safe and alive for as long as possible. That the hard truths of this world wouldn’t come into the light for his little girl just yet. Though it seems unreasonable, he hoped to God that Skye would never have to endure the kind of pain he was feeling at that very moment.  He hoped to God that his mother would wake up and tell him that everything was going to be ok. 

And she did. 

Her eyes opened at the sound of her granddaughter’s voice. Phil jumped off his seat and took her hand. 

“Mom, you’re awake.” he whispered. 

Her eyes wandered to finally meet his. His eyes and his grip said everything for him. They told her how much he loved her and how much he didn’t want her to go. 

He took her hand and brought it up to his cheek in the same way she would anytime he was in distress. There had been a silent agreement between them that this, in fact,  _ was  _ the end.

“Mom, I can’t… I don’t know how to… there’s still so much I need you around for.” 

She was weak but she still managed to get the edges of her lips to curl up a bit for him.

“I’m... proud of you, Phillip.” Julie’s voice was different than what he remembered but he didn’t care. “You can do anything… as long as you keep the ones you love… close.” 

She continued to maintain a smile on her face. 

“Skye.”

“She’s at home with Melinda.”

“Take care of them, Phil. They’re your family.” 

Everything after that was a blur.

Machines beeping. Nurses filling the room. Nurses wheeling her body away. 

The last time he'd ever see her face. She was still smiling. 

The drive home was a blur too. He could've ran a red light and wouldn't notice. It didn't matter. He would pay a hundred traffic tickets if it meant his mom could stick around for just a little longer. 

His calm exterior broke all the way down when Melinda put his hand on his cheek. She instinctively did that the same way his mother had always done. 

Phil couldn't remember the last time he broke down into tears. He didn't even shed a tear when his father passed only because he felt the need to show strength as the new man of the house. 

But now he was alone. His mother and his father were both gone and it was all on him to carry on the legacy. There was no one to fall back on. He wasn't ready for that-- but who is? 

He stood there with his arms tight around her letting his sobbs go into the crook of her neck. Her hand sat at the base of his skull rubbing gently to soothe. 

“Don’t… don't go anywhere, Melinda.” he said once his breathing slowed. 

“I'm right here, Phil.”


	9. Chapter 9

Saying goodbye was something Phil Coulson had been getting used to in the past few years. As an agent, it's a given that loss will come your way. So far he's lost a total of nine agents, people he considered friends. 

There was no time to grieve for any of them-- there was a mission to finish. The practice of pushing the hurt aside became easy. But that wasn't the case on this particular day. 

He watched as they lowered his mother's casket into the ground. Standing beside him was Melinda with a sleeping Skye in her arms. Surrounding the rest of the grave were people who claimed to have known Julie: Distant cousins, Aunts and Uncles, friends, coworkers. 

The priest said the final blessing-- not that it meant anything to Phil-- and the crowd dispersed. 

Phil stood there, hands in pockets, looking down at the casket one last time. There were no tears, just thoughts. 

His dad was probably there to welcome her. Or was he? Phil never got the chance to learn if he was that type of guy. Nevertheless, he hoped that wherever they were, they were reunited and happy. 

He turned around to find Melinda comforting Skye, who just woke up, over on the park bench by the car. 

After hosting a grueling 4 hour reception at his mom's house, Phil took his girls home. 

They spent the rest of the day relaxing, falling in and out of sleep, snacking, and doing whatever was necessary to take the edge off. 

He was smiling, not quite laughing, but smiling-- which was good. For the first time in a week Phil felt some sort of release, closure. He felt like he was ready to focus on the rest of his life and to live it the way his mother wanted him to. 

Sleep didn't come easy for him, though. He moved Skye to her crib and Melinda settled into his arms for the rest of the night. But he just laid there staring at the ceiling. He would fall so deep into his thoughts that by the time he checked the clock again it was another hour later. 

But sure enough, he fell asleep and morning came eventually. It was 7:00am, a Monday morning. Melinda was in the kitchen already finished with tai chi and brewing a fresh pot. Skye was probably up playing by herself in her crib. Everything as usual. 

Phil walked into the kitchen fifteen minutes after waking up in his agent attire with Skye dressed up and on his side. 

“Morning.” he greeted as he came up from behind Melinda to lay a kiss on the top of her head. 

She turned around only to be surprised at the sight of the two of them dressed up. 

“What?” he asked. 

“Nothing.” she said casually. “You know you're allowed to have a break, right?”

“Why would I wanna do that?”

“Well, you know… with everything that's been happening lately… maybe family time isn't such a bad idea.”

Phil’s smile slowly faded. 

“I have to work.” he simply stated. 

They drove to work as if nothing was wrong, as if his mother hadn't just died six days ago. 

Melinda went back to the gym and checked up on her assignments. She had to double check because they were all wrong. She had the luxury of hand picking which operations she wanted to go on. 

“Excuse me.” she said to the commander of the mission she chose. “Sir, I'm sorry but there must be some mistake. I'm not on this op?”

“No, Agent May. You were at first but you were switched out.”

“Switched out? By who?”

“The file said it was a level 6 agent? The name was classified.”

_ Phil.  _

She's been frustrated with him before. They had a slight disagreement a couple weeks ago and she voiced her opinions quite effectively. She contemplated doing that again, but he  _ was  _ going through something. 

On their way home she held off the conversation for as long as she could, she wanted to see if he'd bring it up. He didn't. 

“You switched my op.”

Phil pulled up to the red light and looked over to assess her facial expression, it wasn't too angry so he carried on as usual. 

“I did.”

Melinda raised her eyebrows at his lack of awareness. 

“May I ask why? I chose that op myself.”

Phil shrugged off the question. 

“Phil, why'd you switch it.” she asked with more force. 

The car behind them honked and Phil continued onward. 

“It was too risky.”

“You do know we work for SHIELD, right? Risk is in the job description.”

“I was trying to protect you.” 

She scoffed. 

“You know I don't need protecting.”

“I know you don't. It just…” his voice broke and his grip on the steering wheel tightened. The tears were fighting to come back, but pushing them down wasn't something he wasn't used to. 

“Just what, Phil?” she asked with a more softer and comforting tone. 

When all he was able to answer with was silence her hand slid up to his shoulder as he insisted on keeping his eyes glued to the road. 

“I'm just trying to take care of you. That's what she told me to do. To take care of you and Skye. And she’s right, I have to because if something were to happen to you?” He took a sharp turn and stopped at the side of the rode. “I would never forgive myself.”

It was then when he finally gave in and turned to read Melinda's face. She looked at him with pity in her eyes. Pity because he was putting more weight on his shoulders than needed. 

“I love you, Phil. And that's why I do the risky things I do-- for the people I love. If you want to take care of me… keep making me dinner, keep staying up late to talk, keep being the person I want to see at the end of the day.” She tilted her head a bit to see if he got it. “Okay?”

“Okay.” he said as he mirrored her smile. 

“And as for Skye… don't worry. I'm in this with you.”

He was about to start the car up again when what she said finally registered. 

“What?”

“You're in this with me?”

“Well, yeah. You're the only one for me. That means she is too.”

Those were the words he secretly wanted to hear her say ever since she first held Skye in her arms. She was the woman he wanted Skye to look up to. He always wanted to say it but he was afraid it would scare her away. They're always on the same page. 

“We’re not… moving too fast… right?” 

“Phil, there's no such thing as too fast when it comes to us.”

He sighed from the overwhelming amount of right words she was saying. 

“I love you so damn much, Melinda May.”

 

Skye was more than excited to see the mood on her dad changed. He was giving off his normal vibes and then some. 

The three of them sat in front of the TV all night. They weren't watching it-- it was mainly noise in the background. They didn't need it when reality was so much better. 

Skye crawled. She actually did it. She crawled back and forth between them, it was the cutest thing they're ever seen. 

Phil often couldn't suppress the urge to pick her up and show her how proud he was by showering her with kisses. 

“Daddy missed you so much today, Sunshine.” He looked over and saw that Melinda was watching with the same amount of pride. That was when he took a giant leap of faith. “ _ Mommy  _ did too.”

Her eyebrows didn't raise as much as he thought they would. It felt right but the sound of it was gonna take some getting used to. 

Melinda took Skye and held her in front so they were face to face. 

“Yes she did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi:) what do you think about the last few chapters? writing this fic is probably the only way I'm going to make it through this extra long hiatus, so there WILL be lots more!   
> As we near chapter 10, i've decided that this story could use some angst. not too much, of course, but i think a little bit would make it interesting:))   
> let me know what you'd like to see, i could always use your ideas!


	10. Chapter 10

Time off was definitely a good idea, even if it was only a couple of days. Spending time at home with his daughter and being cut off from the stress of the rest of the world was the exactly the kind of reset button Phil needed. 

Skye was growing quick, that's for sure. It seemed like she just learned how to crawl and now she was trying to stand up. Her face was changing more and more everyday. Some of her features were definitely from him, but he could see her birth mother too. 

Phil never really thought about her anymore. She made her decision and in hindsight he was more than glad she did. If she didn't he'd probably be in some toxic relationship with her where they only stayed together out of convince for their child. He wouldn't have had the open mindedness to fall in love with Melinda. 

During the course of the pregnancy, they didn't talk much. He'd give her rides to the appointments where he'd maybe get a chance to come in and see his baby on the screen. It was only after the last ultrasound that Phil had the courage to start an actual conversation. He was so taken away at how amazing it was to see his child with her arms and legs ready to come out.  _ She,  _ however, was not amused. 

He pleaded with her to give it a chance but her mind was set. Once the baby was born, she'd leave and get back to her life. Apparently her on-and-off-again boyfriend was her main goal. 

She only saw Skye as an obstacle, a mistake. Phil tried to understand where she was coming from. She was young and was still getting her life on track. He was young too but his life was pretty much made up for him. So maybe once her life got to a better place, she'd be ready for something like this. 

But this is his life now. He and Skye couldn't be doing any better. In fact, it wasn't just Daddy and Skye. It was Mommy, Daddy and Skye. The love that those three had for each other showed how irrelevant blood relations are to having the connection of a family. 

Melinda unfortunately couldn't take the time off to spend with them. Her op had her placed on Oahu for a week, poor her. 

They talked on the phone when they could. Skye recognized Melinda's voice and her excitement level rose everytime. She'd babble on and on with the widest smile on her face and Phil knew Melinda had the same expression on the other side. 

The time difference usually got to Skye. She'd knockout out of nowhere. That was ok, though. Phil liked their lazy, calm and laid back conversations. 

“Yeah, I think she’s used to the teething. At least from what I can tell.”

“Well knowing Skye she's probably just roughing through the pain. Better keep giving her those frozen teething rings.”

“I keep giving them to her but the next thing I know I'm finding them on the ground. I think I left her favorite one at your place. We stopped by there yesterday. You got another Ikea catalogue.”

He heard her scoff at that. He’s always teasing her about how much she loves interior decorating but never actually has time to stay home and enjoy it. 

“Did Jill come out and talk to you again?” 

Jill was Melinda's across the hall neighbor who always just happened to be outside whenever Phil stopped by. Melinda was never going to be one of those girls who openly becomes jealous or possessive, but she knew how to effectively drop hints. 

“Yes she did. I told her you were visiting your mom.”

“My  _ mom _ ?” she asked for emphasis on the fact that it was a completely ridiculous answer.

“Yeah. Figured if I said you were on another business trip she'd get suspicious.” Phil never really understood her relationship with her mother, but it seemed like a sensitive topic. “When was the last time you guys talked, anyway?”

There was a pause before she answered the question. 

“Umm… I think it was the first time I was hospitalized from a mission?”

“And when was that?”

“Three years ago.”

He couldn't believe it. At first he found it hard to believe how anyone could go that long without any communication with their parent, but then he realized that he was gonna have to. 

“Look I know it sounds bad,” she defended. “but with everything that's been happening lately-- I've been thinking about making an effort. Just give me some time.” 

They were talking on the phone, but somehow they knew the exact look on each other’s face at that moment. Melinda knew Phil understood where she was coming from, he was one of the few people that got how her mind worked. 

“It's looking like another four days out here.”

“Four days?” he whined. “That means I'm gonna have to talk to Jill another  _ four  _ more times?”

“I know what you're doing and it's not gonna make me come home any faster.”

He laughed and so did she but her’s was a bit more forced considering she was a tad bit sensitive to the idea of Jill actually getting more opportunities to hit on her boyfriend while she's not there.

“Speaking of home,” Phil began. “Maybe we should finish that conversation?”

Melinda knew exactly what he was talking about. Before everything happened with his mom, Phil had introduced the idea of them moving in together. It was in the beginning stages at the time, but since then so much has happened. And since Melinda had taken the next step in her relationship with Skye, it would make a lot of sense to have a mother live with her daughter. 

“My mom left the house for me. I'm not saying we should move into that house specifically, but maybe we could sell it and buy our own?”

“You wanna sell it?” She made sure her level of surprised-ness was reciprocated in the tone of her voice. 

“Yeah, I do. That house has so many memories, but, I kinda just want them to stay memories. I wanna start anew so I can look back on the past when I want to.”

This was a big decision that probably shouldn't be decided over the phone. But they were so sure and on the same page that they agreed that as soon as her mission was done, they'd start the search for their new home. 

“Alright, enjoy your hawaiian evening. I better put sunshine to bed before she gets too comfortable.”

“Okay. Love you.”

“I love you too.”

Getting Skye to fall asleep again was a bit tricky, but he succeeded. She just needed him to be there while she dozed off. 

She looked so peaceful. Everything at that moment seemed so peaceful, so perfect. Skye was asleep and getting a break from the aches and pains of being a teething baby. Melinda was safe in the Hawaiian safe house. Phil had gotten it off his chest that he wanted to start fresh and leave the past where it is. Everything was perfect. 

But then there was a knock at the door. 

Usually when there's a person at the door at 10 o’clock at night, it's just the downstairs neighbor checking to see if your hot water stopped working too. Unfortunately, that was not the case on this particular night. 

“What are you doing here?” he asked stoically. There was no emotion from him at all. He stood at the doorway and made sure to give the impression that he was not happy to see this person.

“I'm here to see my daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmmm....


	11. Chapter 11

“Phil. Say something.”

He couldn’t. He was beside himself. For the first time in a while things actually started looking up for him. Life has got the best of him too many times, lately. He wasn’t going to let it happen again. 

“You have to go.”

The slight heartbreak in her eyes did nothing to make him feel bad for her. 

“Phil, you can't just keep her from me.” 

She actually believed she had a right to Skye. She believed that even though she didn't want anything to do with her eight and a half months ago, she could just come out of nowhere and start acting like nothing happened. 

“Yes, I can. I'm her father.” 

“And I'm her mo--”

“No you’re not.” he interrupted firmly. “You never were.”

“I have to see her, Phil. She's  _ special. _ ”

He wanted to raise his voice but his neighbors were sleeping and so was Skye. 

“You don't know a single thing about what makes her special.”

“No, I mean she's  _ special _ .” Her words and her mannerisms sent chills over his body. “I've met some people in the past couple months. I was lost and they showed me the way.”

“And these people told you my daughter was special?” he asked almost sarcastically. 

“No, not exactly. They told me I was.” He couldn't hold in his laugh at the total B.S. that was coming out of her mouth. “That means she is too.”

“And you want to-- what? Take her to these people? I don't think so.”

“Eventually, yes.” his disapproval was prominent in his eyes. “Phil, just let me--”

“ _ Jiaying _ .” he snapped. “Leave.”

Skye must have heard his harsh tone because a few seconds later a loud cry came from her room. 

Jiaying wanted to go to her, Phil could see it in her body language. But there wasn't a chance in hell he was going to let her-- not with the crazy things she wanted to do with his baby. 

With eyes still fully in contact with hers, Phil shut the door. 

Skye leaned against the crib railing crying and waiting for someone to come through the door. 

He walked her around her bedroom to calm her down. When that didn't work he went to the window, Skye was always fascinated with what was outside. But the view was different tonight. 

He could see Jiaying getting into the passenger seat of a car. It wasn't until the car drove away that Phil recognized the driver. He'd seen pictures of this man when he'd pick up Jiaying from her house. His name was Cal if he remembered correctly. 

“Hey, Sunshine look at me.” He faced her so she could see his face. When her eyes met his he gave the most reassuring smile he could, which honestly wasn't that hard. Anyone would smile if they saw those chubby cheeks. “Everything's fine. You're ok.” 

 

She knocked for the next three days and for the next three days Phil ignored it. His patience was strong, but on the fourth day it wasn’t. 

Something wasn’t sitting right with Skye, Phil just couldn’t figure it out. He spent the entire morning trying to get her to mellow out. His patience was already running low with Jiaying’s constant not going away, the hours of crying and wailing was only using the last of it. 

Then the doorbell rang. Different from the last few days-- usually she’d knock, for minutes. When the reparative dinging mixed with the crying he'd had enough. 

“Now isn't a good time!” he yelled. 

The dinging continued. Frustrated, he made his way to the door with Skye squirming in his arms. Without thinking, he opened the door and immediately said the first thing that popped into his head. 

“Jiaying--” he stopped with the rest of the sentence stuck in his throat. 

“Who the hell is Jiaying?” an eyebrow raised Melinda asked. 

Phil pulled her inside and brought her into his tight embrace. 

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” she said lovingly before pulling back to get a good look at his face. “Who the hell is Jiaying.”

The look on his face made it clear that whatever he was gonna say next was not going to be easy.

“We need to talk.”

They talked and he broke down the situation piece by piece, sparing no detail. After a while of discussing, the way they started wording their sentences made it seem like they were working a case trying to bring in a suspect.

He went to a bar after his fifth bad first date in a row. She was there with a man, he couldn’t remember if it was Cal or not. They were talking when all of a sudden she stands up from her chair and yells something as she throws a drink in the man’s face. He storms out and Jiaying plops down at the bar two or three seats away from Phil. They sit there for an hour just thinking to themselves about what a wasteland their lovelife is while putting more and more alcohol in their system. 

Phil didn’t know what he was doing, she wasn’t his type. His file read that he specializes in reading character, and what he read from her was that she was lost-- there was something missing from her life. 

The bartender rang for last call and made a comment to the two of them about getting those sad mugs off their faces. Neither had realized their poor luck in the love department was visible from their body language. 

A second of eye contact was enough to ignite both of their needs for feeling-less pleasure at that very moment. 

Closing time came and soon they were stumbling to her apartment three buildings down. 

Phil wasn't thinking about her. He wasn't thinking about anyone. He just did what he felt he had to. 

That's it. 

That's all it took for such a miracle like Skye to become possible. There was always going to be the unfortunate fact that Jiaying-- a materialistic, greedy, and selfish woman-- was the biological  mother of his child. That was a given. But when a mother-daughter relationship lacks love and connection, blood becomes irrelevant. 

“Does she have any rights to Skye?” Melinda asked for her assessment of the situation.

“No.” he answered to her relief. “She made sure of that when Skye was born. Didn’t think twice about signing any form the lawyer told her would give me full custody.” 

“Do you trust her intentions?”

“No.” he simply said. “I will never trust her.”

Melinda nodded as her final opinion became clear in her mind.

“You have to tell her that. Face to face.”

Phil sighed even though he knew that was the only way to get rid of someone as stubborn as Jiaying. 

The stress was evident on his face. Melinda took his hand and hoped with all she could that this would all blow over smoothly. 

“Just tell the truth. You’ll be fine.”

 

The rage built up a ball of pressure inside his head when the doorbell rang. 4:30, right on schedule. 

Controlling feelings was something that was stressed back at the academy, and now he was starting to understand why. 

Without thinking, he turned the knob and before he knew it they were face to face. She tried to speak but he told her to come inside before he changes his mind. 

They sat face to face at his small dining table. Jiaying didn't know Phil was a SHIELD agent, so she didn't know he was reading her like he would a suspect before an interrogation. There were tells left and right. She was nervous to be there but in the end she truly believes that she will achieve her goal. He also notice that she looked around a lot. At the high chair next to the table, the bin of toys by the couch, and at the hallway were she heard her daughter cry from a few days ago. 

“She's not here.” Phil got out of the way. “It's just us.”

“Where is she?”

“With someone I trust.”

It hurt her that he trusted someone else with her daughter-- it would hurt her even more if she knew that Skye was with her mother-- but she pushed that aside. 

“Thank you for agreeing to talk to me.”

He scoffed. 

“You're not here to talk. You gonna listen.” his voice was rough and obviously holding back the loud volume he'd rather be using. “When you told me you were pregnant, what did you say?”

“I--”

“You said that this was the worst thing that could have possibly happened to you at that point in your life.”

“Yes but--” 

“But you’ve changed, right? People can't change  _ that  _ much in a year.” Jiaying was furious she wasn't getting through to him. “You say you want her so you can take her to these people you say changed you, did I hear that correctly.”

“It's what she needs.”

“No, it's not. What she needs is people around her that love her. She needs to feel it and feel that it's real.”

“If she comes with me she'll be able to feel everything.” 

_ Interesting choice of words _ , Phil thought. 

“You have no idea the potential Daisy has. She--”

Phil had to stop her. 

“Daisy?” he repeated. “What the hell is that?”

“Cal and I came up with it.” 

A smile escaped from his mouth upon realizing that she wanted to raise Skye with Cal like he was with Melinda. He may be a bit biased but he and Melinda  _ are _ the best choice. They were level headed SHIELD agents trained to protect and Jiaying and Cal are two people with just barely figured out how to protect themselves. 

“My daughter needs a mother, Phil. You can't deny that.” 

His cheeky grin noticeably changed tones and was now a bit unsettling to her. 

“No, I can't. But she already has one.”

Jiaying lost her cool and collected facial expression and transformed it into one of rage. 

“You replaced me?” she growled. 

“You can't replace something that was never there.” 

Her eyes were filling up with tears much in the same way that Skye's eyes do when she doesn't get what she wants. 

Phil took a sip of the glass of water he didn't offer to her. 

“I never told you what I do, did I.”

“No.” she said with irritation in her voice.

Without taking his eyes off her with that same grin of his, he reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a wallet. He opened it facing him and then slid it across the table to her. Jiaying picked it up confused. 

“I work for a secret organization that happens to look into the type of people you're talking about. I'm trained in all sorts of tactics. Hand to hand combat, marksmanship, undercover work, and having people hidden from the people that are looking for them.” 

“That's not--”

“You should also know that this conversation has been recorded.” He then pulled out a gadget that looked way more advanced than any of the latest technology. “Look for her all you want, Jiaying. But you'll never find her. The last thing you said to me before you left the hospital was ‘do whatever you want with her’. That's exactly what I'm doing. I want to protect her. I need to protect her. From things and people like you.”

He quite liked shutting people down through speeches, maybe after this he could use that out in the field. 

Once she walked out that door and he watched her car leave, the anger built up in his head evaporated. 

 

That night he made his way to Melinda’s apartment to meet his girls. After what went down at his place, a change of scenery was much needed. They ate dinner, watched copious amounts of cartoon musicals to amuse Skye, and eventually found themselves slowly falling asleep on the couch. 

“You ok?” Melinda asked with her head rested on his chest with her daughter was contently laid in both of their laps.  

“Yeah.” he answered. “I don’t think she’s ever gonna completely go away but...I think we’re ok.”

He felt her lips move up into a smile. 

“In other good news: we can finally start looking for houses, or apartments-- we haven’t discussed which one we want yet.”

“Well then we better get started.”


	12. Chapter 12

A house was the way to go. 

There was lots of space and privacy. It was going to be a lot harder for the neighbors to keep track of their being away patterns and them living together meant that the house would rarely be empty. It also meant that they lived together and things were less complicated. There was no more ‘heading home’ after a late night because they already were home. No need to worry about having a change of clothes in the morning because all of their stuff was there. The only missing each other that was going to take place was when they were working. 

A family should be under one roof. 

It wasn’t a big house, but it was more than enough room for three people. 

Phil caught himself staring at the house minutes after he pulled into the driveway. His imagination ran wild at the sight of the structure. 

This was where Skye was going to grow up. She can run around in the front lawn sprinklers during summertime, sit by the fireplace and roast marshmallows in the winter and she can be happy. That’s all he hoped for. That she be happy. Because with the life he and Melinda live it can be easy for something so nice and peaceful to be taken away. That wasn’t an option though. He brought her into this world and even though it was by accident he’d be damned if she didn’t get the life she deserved. And to him she deserved it all.

The level of worriedness he had that he wouldn’t be able to give that to her plummeted when he entered the living room. 

There were boxes waiting to be unpacked but the rocking chair was out in the open. Melinda sat there facing the cable-less television reading a book. She turned when she heard his footsteps and as he moved closer he was able to see Skye sitting contently in her arms taking in her evening bottle. 

It had been awhile since Phil noticed any significant change in his daughter. As he looked at her holding her own bottle in Melinda’s arms he realized how big she’s gotten, and suddenly that future he imagined didn't seem so far away. Slowly but surely, it’ll all come together.

Skye perked up a bit at the first sight of her dad since the night before. He picked her up and Melinda scooted over to make just enough room for him on the chair built for one. 

“We have  _ got  _ to unpack.”

Phil laughs softly as he adjusts the bottle in Skye’s hands. The two watch their daughter as she fights falling asleep. 

“What, you don’t the setup we have now?” he asks sarcastically. They’re squished into a glider, rocking back and forth, and the rest of the house is completely still. Somehow they both silently agree that it’s actually kind of nice. She nestles in more underneath his arms to get comfortable. With the two most important people in his life in his arms, he relaxes. 

Their bed is the only other thing set up, and it’s not long before they retire to it. Skye’s crib is somewhere buried underneath the rest of their furniture, so she sleeps between them. 

Each of them had a rough day in their own right. Melinda got stuck with the paperwork for her upcoming mission, Phil got the news that he will start receiving field assignments again, and Skye spent 8 hours at the daycare with five other screaming kids while she sat there content; so it was expected that the next eight to ten hours would be completely filled with sleep. 

They laid comfortably, cuddled next to each other for awhile, but eventually Skye managed to take up half of the bed, forcing her mom and dad to cling onto the edges.

In the morning Melinda was surprised to wake up in the middle of the empty bed. It was hard to get her eyes to open despite the sun shining bright from the window. What finally got them to open was the familiar sound and smell of bacon on the frying pan. 

Her morning shower gave her a refreshed mindset for the rest of the day. Instead of Agent May, she was Melinda and Mama. 

On her way to the kitchen, she could hear Skye gabbing off while Phil amused her. She stopped at the corner and peaked her head around to get a glimpse of what was going on. 

“Ok, sunshine.” Phil said with her on his side as he rummaged through the refrigerator. “Are we thinking cheddar or mozzarella?”

He set her on the counter and held the two out in front of her. 

“Cheddar. Good choice.” 

With Skye back in one arm, he set the rest of the food on the island along with the cheese. He opened the bag for Skye to grab some.

“Ok now put it on the food.” She looked up at him and he nodded over at the food. “Go ahead, Skye. Put it on the-- not in your mouth!”

When he pulled her cheese filled fist from her mouth she bit her bottom lip and shot him her innocent smile that never failed to get him to forget that she did something wrong. 

“You’re something else, aren’t you?”

Skye responded with a giggle and Phil couldn’t help but kiss those little cheeks. 

“ _ You’re  _ something else.” Melinda said from the corner of the kitchen.

The freshness of her body after a shower always left him in a daze. His eyes locked with hers as she made her way to stand in front of him. 

“Sleep alright?” he asked in a low, hushed tone. 

They both slept extremely uncomfortable for the majority of the night, there was no question. Melinda looked at Skye, who at that moment was up higher than her, and ran her hand over her hair. 

“Mama.” Skye got out before leaning into her arms. She prided herself that Skye learned her name before Phil’s.

“I slept great.”

Phil said something along the same lines before getting his lips on her’s, which were still cold and damp-- it was perfect.

 

“You like your omelet?” he asked halfway into their meal. 

“Oh yeah.” she said after swallowing. “I especially like the presentation. A cutting board as a plate and a melon baller as the utensil.”

“Don’t forget about your green tea sippy cup.”

“And _ your  _ coffee measuring cup.”

They laughed about it for a while until they realized what it meant.

“We have to unpack today, don’t we?”

“I’m afraid so. Don’t worry. It’ll be fun.”

“You’re only saying that because you get to sort through your trading cards.”

He smiled at that and took her hand.

“I’m saying it because I’m excited to live with you.”

“Put those googly eyes away, I’m trying to eat an omelet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW. It's been a while, huh? Sorry about that. I started college not long after chapter 11 was posted, so it's been a bit crazy. But I like it! Thanks for reading:)


	13. The Holidays

They spent the entire week of Thanksgiving over in Wisconsin, some of Phil’s mother’s old friends insisted he come over for a proper holiday meal.

It’s been two Thanksgivings since a he’s last eaten some of his mother’s turkey, but the turkey her friends fed him definitely paled in comparison.

It was strange to see Skye, his own daughter, running around in the very park he grew up begging his dad to go to while they worked on that damn car. Three years ago, there was only one person he looked forward to spending the holidays with. She was gone, but he wouldn’t trade what he has now for the world.

He found true love for the second time in Melinda. She was meant everything to him and the more time they spent together the more he was sure of it. She would do anything to protect Skye, and the love that they had for each other came as naturally to him as anything ever has.

 

They escaped the hustle and bustle of black Friday by making the trip back home, and escaped the crowd at the airport by using a quinjet they may or may not have said they were using for a mission.

When they got home, the entire neighborhood was decked out in lights, fake reindeer and giant blow-up Santa Clauses. Phil and Melinda both cringed at the amount of Christmas spirit before the actual holiday, but felt a little better when they saw their daughter’s eyes light up upon seeing all the decorations.

They were more tired than they thought they were. Skye knocked out for the night just an hour after getting back, and her parents settled in bed to watch TV.

Her head rested on his chest while his hand smoothed back and forth across her waist. The weather was getting colder and colder so layers of blankets were added to their nighttime routine.

“What do you say we go out and get some lights for the house tomorrow?” Melinda suggests as she watches their fingers intertwine. She can feel Phil’s eyebrows raise at her proposal. “We don’t want to be the only house on the block with no decorations again.”

“True,” he agrees after a slight pause, “but since when do _you_ care about what the neighborhood thinks? On halloween you parked the cars in the garage and turned all the lights off so no one would ask for candy.”

“That was Halloween. Christmas is different.” If the person she was talking to wasn’t Phil, she wouldn’t say this next part. “One of my earliest memories is of me and my dad decking out the house while snow coated our front lawn. I don’t know, I guess I want Skye to have as much fun as I did during the holidays.”

She looked up at him and got the smile she was hoping for.

“Sounds good to me. You two are more than anything I could ever want or need so, as long as you’re happy…”

That was when she realized how long it had been since they had a talk like this. Just talking. Not complaining about their day or how tired they are- just a healthy, well-spirited conversation. Her favorite conversations are the ones, such as this one, that warrant breaks for long kisses in between sentences.

“I have to admit,” he says after they’ve returned to their resting position. “It’s been hard lately. Balancing all the new ops Fury’s starting to trust me with and being a dad. I don’t think I could handle anything more. But you give just the right amount of push. Everytime. So, thank you.”

She huffed. Being sentimental wasn’t her thing, but it was when she was with him.

“Thank _you._ ”

 

Skye was two, which meant that the concept of a magical man in a red suit dropping presents off at your house when you’re sleeping was starting to make total sense. The more she got excited for Santa to come, the more Phil wanted to make sure the gift she got was perfect. Melinda told him that Skye would love anything if she thinks it came from Santa, but he eventually persuaded her to help him pick out the biggest present possible. It didn’t exactly fit inside the stocking, it sat under it though. The big bow on top of it would surely catch her attention.

It was 10 o’clock in the morning on December 25th and Phil and Melinda, the parents, were waiting for Skye, the child, to wake up. She didn’t mind though, for some reason she felt like she needed some slow paced quality time with her boyfriend.

“You’d think she’d be up early given how excited she was last night.” Phil said once he finished his cup of coffee.

Melinda shook her head against his shoulder as they warmed up under a blanket on the couch.

“When was the last time she woke up before 11:00 am voluntarily?”

They walked  into her room to find her still completely asleep. She was wearing the Christmas pajamas her mom couldn’t help but buy, and clinging to the stuffed bear her grandma bought her when she was born.

Phil stood at the doorway while Melinda went to wake her up. For some reason, Skye never woke up smoothly when he tried to wake her up. He would rub circles on her back exactly as Melinda does, but she knows the difference. He knew the comfort of a mother’s touch-- or just Melinda’s touch in general.

“Good morning.” Melinda whispered when she caught a glimpse of those beautiful brown eyes. Skye responded by giving a groggy smile and lifting her arms up to be picked up. She settled into Melinda’s arms while they swayed back and forth.

“Merry Christmas, Sunshine.”

Her eyes widened at the sound of that familiar voice.

“Who’s that, Skye?”

“Dada!”

Phil walked toward them and Skye clung to Melinda because she knew what was coming. Tickles were her dad’s specialty.

“Hey Skye,” Melinda said once the tickling got a little old. “You wanna see what Santa got you?”

She perked up at the name. Melinda set her down on the floor and their little girl ran to the fireplace.

They followed her, but Phil caught her arm as they passed from the kitchen to the living room.

“What?” she asked suspiciously. The smirk on his face never meant anything good.

“Mistletoe.” he said pointing to the green bundle above their heads.

She rolled her eyes. “You are so cheesy.”

“Hey, I don’t make the rules.”

He tilted his head and busted out the googly eyes, she couldn’t help but kiss him. There was something special about it being Christmas that made him want her even more. His mind left his body for a moment until they both felt little fingers on their legs.

“Alright, Skye.” Phil sighed whilst scooping her up into his arms. “Let’s go see what Santa got you.”

 

It was a calm Christmas day, for the most part. Relaxing in pajamas, watching classic movies and playing with Skye and her new toy-- that was, until the phone rang.

Barton called to tell them Firefly Protocol was being activated. Christmas day of all days.

This was the protocol no agent of SHIELD ever wanted to see. The law states that when Firefly is activated, all agents are to report to their station as soon as humanly possible.

The two of them had special orders to report to the top floor in Director Fury’s office. They had no choice but to bring Skye. If the situation escalated to the point where she would be put in danger, there was an option they planned in advance that  would ensure her safety.

They’re all in the car and on their way. Phil drives while Melinda sits in the passenger seat trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

“There’s nothing in the system that says what went wrong.” she tells him as she scrolls through her tablet. “Were we hacked?”

“Maybe.”

There’s a sudden pang in her head. All she can do is sigh and rub at the spot where it hurt. She feels Phil’s right hand grip her thigh.

“Hey. You alright?”

“Just a headache.” she says while giving his hand an assuring squeeze. “I’ll take something once we get there. I’ll be fine.”

 

The elevator ride to Fury’s office is long, but that's ok because Skye needed a bit of calming down after Phil quickly woke her up in the car. All the other agents must have already arrived at their posts because the halls were mostly empty.

Probably looking like a mess, they run into Fury’s office.

“We’re here! We’re— what the hell?”

“Merry Christmas!”

The room was filled with agents. None of whom were wearing any concerned faces. Instead they were all smiling, standing around a conference table covered in food while tinsel and ornaments covered the walls.

“What’s with the faces, you two?” Fury asks as he approaches them still shocked.

They look at each other to register what the actual hell is happening.

“B-Barton.” Phil started to get out, “He called-- said Firefly was in motion. We came as soon as we could.”

Perfectly timed, a loud voice was heard from the other side of the room.

“Fifty bucks says I can’t hit the bullseye on that dart board blindfolded!”

It was starting to make sense.

“Yeah,” Fury explained. “He had a tequila shot at the beginning of the party and hasn’t turned back since.”

“So… no emergency?” Melinda clarified.

“No emergency.” The director insured.

“Hey!” They all recognized that familiar voice, even Skye. “It’s about time you guys got here.”

“Nat.” Skye pointed. They all smiled at her cute little voice.

“Yeah, Auntie Nat. That’s me kiddo!” she said as she took the little girl from her father’s arms.

Fury saw the opportunity and took it as fast as he could.

“Coulson.” he said while roughly placing his hand on his his right hand man’s shoulder. “The guys wanna check out that case of scotch we confiscated from Scotland.”

“Isn’t that evidence?”

“Who’s gonna tell on us? I’m the director.”

It was a compelling offer, and Fury was rarely ever this candid. He looked over at Melinda who was standing next to Romanoff and Skye.

“Just go.” she pushed. “And bring me back something nice.”

 

About half an hour later, the guys had returned to the party. All of them were noticeably “happier”, which meant that they did a little bit more than just check out the scotch.

“I guess I’m the designated driver?” Melinda said to Phil as he approached her and Nat.

“If you don’t mind.” he responded with a cheeky smile. At least he knew how to hold a drink better than most of their coworkers.

“Coulson.” Barton called from behind him. The alcohol was wearing off and the hangover was already starting to kick in. Natasha laughed at how miserable he was already looking. “Do you have anymore of that stuff you gave me during my last hangover? I’m kinda dying right now.”

He sighed and firmly patted the younger agent’s shoulder. “Yeah, buddy. It’s in my office.”

Melinda and Nat watched the two of them skimp over into the elevator.

“Guys are so pathetic.” Natasha chided. “No matter how cute they may be.”

Melinda looked over and raised an eyebrow while Skye continued to fiddle with the wrapping paper from her gifts in her lap.

“No luck with Barton, I take it?”

The two ladies loved their relationship. There was no one in the entire world either of them would share this type of information with.

“It’s not that there’s no luck. It just that both of us are too stubborn to take the first step. I don’t know, it’s complicated.” she took a swig of her drink. “You know all about complicated, don’t you? The amazing part about you and Phil’s relationship is that it actually works— like perfectly.”

Melinda scoffed at that last part.

“No seriously. You guys just fit so nice together. _And_ you have a kid. Even _that’s_ complicated. I want that.”

“Natasha…”

“Yes, May?”

“You’re rambling. Maybe that should be your last martini?”

Romanoff smiled in defeat.

“Oh, and it smells like someone needs a diaper change.”

“Do you need help?” Nat offered.

“No, Phil’s already in his office. We’ll just use the bathroom in there.”

 

A person’s true feelings come out when alcohol goes in, Phil keeps that in mind while Barton is breaking down how he feels about the lethal agent he brought in a year ago. Natasha felt the same, it was no question. He and Melinda found it fun to just watch how they danced around their feelings for one another.

“I mean I really wanna tell her how I feel, man.” Barton was sitting in the floor of Phil’s office bathroom while he rummaged through the medicine cabinet. “But she’s scary. Her face is… it’s beautiful but it’s also terrifying.”

“I know what that’s like.” Phil added while pulling out the container he was looking for. “It’ll come naturally. Trust me.”

“Is that how it went for you and May? Naturally?”

Phil nodded handed over a glass of water and two of the anti-hangover capsules.

“Man.” Barton whined. “I want that. You two are in love, have a house, have a kid and at this point you’re probably thinking about getting married.”

Phil choked a bit at that last part. They’ve taken so many big steps throughout they’re relationship, he sort of forgot about the biggest one.

He reached for the door to open it so they could return to the party.

“Trust me, Clint. Marriage is the _last_ thing on my mind when it comes to me and May.”

He regrets wording his feelings that way as soon as he opens the door. Melinda is standing there with Skye. Did she hear him? He’s frozen in place for a moment trying to read her face. There’s something different about the look in her eyes. It was hurt. He messed up and hurt her. _Dammit_.

She does good to cover it though, quickly changing the subject. It probably wasn’t a good idea to talk about what just happened in front of Clint.

“Skye needed a diaper change. I came down here to—“ she gestured to the bathroom behind Phil.

“Oh yeah. Of course.” He said awkwardly while stepping out of the way. “Let me help you.”

“No. No. It’s ok.” she insisted. She grew a small, forced smile. “You guys go back upstairs. I’ll see you up there.”

After a few more volleyings of ‘Are you sure’ and ‘Yes. I’m fine’ Melinda finally found a break to close the bathroom door between them. At this point, he was hating himself for being so stupid. Almost to the point of vowing to never pick up a drink again.

Barton had already gone ahead of him, so the elevator ride back to the party was completely empty.

_Shit._

 

Phil actually can’t wait until they have to go home. He can’t wait until they’re in the car together. He can’t stand knowing that she’s hurt and it’s because of him.

“Melinda.” he starts as she enters the freeway. “I wanna talk about what I said.”

Her hands rounded firmly around the steering wheel. “It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not because that’s not exactly how I feel.” His tone is already showing signs that he won’t be able to be stopped. “We’re really good together and I love you. Honestly, what we have is more real to me than any piece of paper anyone could ever give us. I wouldn’t change anything we have for the world— for now anyway. I like the way we are. I like feeling horrible when I feel like you’re hurt. It means I love you. And…”

“Phil.” she interrupted. For a second, she took her eyes off the road and looked at him. “I know.”

“You know?”

“We _are_ fine the way we are. Let’s not change it.”

He was still unsure if she was being straight or not. Or at least until she reached for his hand and gave it the same reassuring squeeze she gave him when they were on their way to the base.

 

He’s pissed when he’s woken up at 4:00am the next day. It’s work calling him in for an emergency mission. The timing couldn’t have been worse.

There was still so many things he wanted to say to Melinda.

At 4:30, when he’s sitting at the end of the bed tying his shoes, he hears the bed sheets scuffle. They meet eyes when he turns around. She’s trying to figure out what he’s doing because it looks like he’s trying to sneak out.

“Mission?”

He walks over to her bedside, sitting so close that their sides were touching.

“Yeah. Something's going down at the base in the Alps. They need me there.”

“Did they say how long?”

He shrugged. It could be days, a week even. “I don’t have to go…”

She shook her head. “You know that’s not true. They need you.”

“I know but--” but there he didn’t want to leave her like this.

“Phil.” she said reaching over to place her hand on his cheek. “Go.”

The kiss they share right then makes him feel a little bit better. They were going to be fine.

“I love you.”

 

It’s three days of restoring order at a recently hijacked base. It’s stressful and always busy. In the 72 hours he’s there, he gets a total of 6 hours of sleep, one hour at a time. He runs on coffee and the rationed peanuts. His endurance is low having just come off of a two day Christmas break that was filled with all of his favorite holiday foods. But he powers through. The faster he gets through this, the faster he can get on a flight back home.

What he comes home to isn’t what he had in mind. It’s late at night. Skye’s asleep in her room, but Melinda is nowhere to be found. Instead, he finds Natasha watching TV in their living room.

“Nat?”

She’s not startled by his voice, she _is_ a trained assassin.

“Hey, Coulson. May said they called her in as soon as they got word you were coming home. She asked me to stay here till you got back.”

The system was not on his side. He fell back onto the couch on the opposite side of Nat in a tired fashion.

“You look horrible, by the way.” The dark circles under his eyes and the way his shoulders dropped were just some of the tells that he was nearing his breaking point. That’s what stress does to a guy.

“I can stay if you want. It’ll give you some time to eat, take a shower, rest, take a shower. Seriously, you smell like sweat and gunpowder.”

She was the little sister he never had, it was nice.

“Noted, but I think I can handle it. I’ll be fine in the morning.”

“In that case,” she said standing up. “I’m gonna head home.”

“Thanks again.” he called out as she walked out the front door.

 

His shower is hot and long— therapeutic, almost. Washing away everything that’s been stressing him out lately. It almost brings him back to his normal state of mind, only there’s still a part of him that wonders if Melinda was the one who assigned herself to that mission. His voice of reason reminded him that she wouldn’t do that unless she absolutely felt like she belonged on that op, but that other little annoying voice made him feel as if she just needed to get away from him for a while.

Once he was done, he dried off and headed over to the bed. He falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow, but all he can think about his how only a night ago, Melinda too slept in this very bed alone. Being loyal to SHIELD sucked sometimes.

In the three days _she’s_ gone, she calls twice.

The first time, he picks up after the first ring. They hardly ever get to talk while one of them is away so it’s special when they do. All in all, it’s good to hear each other's voices. She keeps the subject off of her, mostly asking about how he is after that especially taxing mission. He tells her he’s fine and that it was barely anything compared to their daughter in her ‘terrible two’ phase. Skye Melinda’s voice becomes a bit more animated when she hears Skye. The little girl herself got excited to talk to her mom, she babbled for a good ten minutes.

It was strange she was allowed to be on a personal call for as long as she was. Agents on duty aren’t usually given the opportunity to do so. Phil saw it as a good thing. She pulled some strings just to talk. She wouldn’t do that if she wasn’t ok with how they left things.

 

At 9:30pm on New Year’s eve, she calls for the second time. She lets him know that the mission is over and she’s back at the base but her unit got stuck with inventory— it was going to be an all night sort of thing.

He made a complaint in the form of a joke that sounded something along the lines of, “You mean I won’t see you until next year?” The fact that they weren’t face to face didn’t stop him from feeling her eyes rolling at him. He missed those eyes.

There’s no thinking process that takes place when he buckles Skye up to sleep in the backseat so that he could drive them to the base. In the short time he heard her voice something clicked inside of him that made him absolutely need to see her.

 

Everyone is in the cargo hold of the plane they brought everything back on. There’s ten foot boxes lying around everywhere and agents with clipboards. The command monitor in the corner is repurposed so that the live feed from Times Square is playing while everyone works. At first glance, Phil immediately recognizes the redhead among a group of a few other people. Melinda is more towards the back, quietly trying to get her job done as soon as possible while the others engage in meaningless conversation in order to suppress the boredom that is taking inventory.

Skye, who has since woken up and will have trouble going back to sleep later, recognises the back of her mother’s head. She wiggles enough for her dad to know that she wants to be let down. Once she’s on her feet, she runs up and hugs the back of Melinda’s legs.

She’s surprised and confused, of course, but Phil can see the love in her eyes as she picks up the little girl.

Melinda’s eyes find him after a couple moments. He’s standing there with his hands in his pockets with the smile that he tries to use to lessen the already small amount of disappointment she has that he came when he said he wasn’t going to. She simply rolls her eyes and lets him wrap his arms around her.

The three of them are still in an embrace when someone yells from the bottom of the ramp.

“It’s New Year’s, people! Who’s down for some celebratory tequila?”

Barton lays at least six bottles down on one of the crates along with some cheap red solo cups. All the agents drop what they were doing and convene around the alcohol. Clint and Nat catch each other’s eyes and it becomes obvious why he came. If you ever want an excuse to kiss somebody, New Years eve is perfect.

“Tonight’s the night.” Phil said softly. “He’s gonna make a move.”

“Don’t be so sure. He’s still scared of Nat.”

She lifted the side of her face off his chest and looked up into his eyes. This was the part he actually came for.

“I’m sorry. I--”

“Don’t.” she interrupts. Her tone confuses him a bit. “Please.”

“Two minutes!” someone calls out as the numbers on the screen quickly tick down. Melinda turned to look, but Phil kept his eyes on her.

“Mel,” he said turning her head with his hand on her chin. “I just want you to know that I don’t have anything against marrying you. I just really, _really_ love what we have right now. It’s perfect.” At that moment Skye flailed her arms, pointing to the flashy lights and balloons on the TV. Phil had a wide grin on his faces as he stroke his hand over the side of her small face. “Why add anything to that?”

Her grin wasn’t as big as his, but it was there.

“Phil--” she started before getting interrupted by someone warning for thirty seconds left. The countdown was mostly voiced by the half drunk agents. She watched Phil smiling down at the happy child in her arms, making her smile in the effortless way that he does. Seeing that made her heart flutter. Her admiration must have shown as apprehensiveness on her face because Phil stopped suddenly and looked at her with concern.

“Hey, you alright?”

“Five… four…”

Everything was in slow motion to her all of a sudden. She had built it up for so long it was bound to come out eventually.

“Three… two..”

And, with a deep exhale-

“I’m pregnant.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Melinda's POV and what happens in the new year next chapter!
> 
> thanks for reading:)


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